Revived Yet Again...
I'm "bumping" this thread because I recently "dug down" into the Tarot Garden scan pile, and out popped the Solleone
Tarocchino Lombardo. In preparation for writing up the short, descriptive accompanying text for the Tarot Garden database, I began to do a bit of reading. Thanks to this thread, my five-minute "familiarization" has turned into several hours of unintended (albeit fun) research.
In reading through this thread (which I've done several times now, but there's so much info here that my eyes are crossing, and I'm not yet quite sure I've got it all straight in my head), I'm seeing the
Lombardo "lumped in" with the Meneghello
Soprafino and the Lo Scarabeo
Classical. However, from what I'm actually observing in the decks, I'm not sure I can say with confidence that the
Lombardo is "just" another reproduction of the "original" Della Rocca Soprafino. There are elements that seem to be closer to the "Sessia" variation, although it's fairly clear that the
Lombardo isn't a "Sessia" deck either.
I've scanned two sample cards from each of four decks, and posted them at this
link. The editions represented are: A) the Meneghello
Soprafino (actually a special edition done for Cavallini & Co), B) the Lo Scarabeo
Classic Tarot, C) The Solleone
Lombardo, and D) the Lo Scarabeo
Ancient Italian Tarots. Looking at the "Sun" card, the
Lombardo sun itself can clearly be seen to be closer in design to the Sessia (
Ancient Italian Tarots), while most of the rest of the card follows the Della Rocca/Gumppenberg "original" more closely.
Furthermore, in the
Lombardo, the "Ace of Coins" card appears to read: "Fab. R. Bordo e C - Milano." Presumably, this is the card publisher Bordoni & Co., who, according to Kaplan 2, published in Milan from 1887-1900. Samples from the Lombardo are shown in Kaplan 2 on pp. 362 - 363, where the caption reads, "Reprint of Gumppenberg Lombardy Tarot by Edizione del Solleone." However, on p. 314, Kaplan calls the
Lombardo a "reprint" of the Gumppenberg deck by Bordoni, originally published in 1889, and then, of course, republished by Solleone in 1981. Samples of the "Ace of Coins" card from the Bordoni decks are shown in Kaplan 2 on p. 387; the top example looks very, very close to the "Ace of Coins" in the Solleone
Lombardo.
Given this information, I suppose it would be inaccurate of me to list the
Lombardo in the Tarot Garden database as a reprint of the "original" Soprafino, or to otherwise lump it in that class of reproduction. Instead, the
Lombardo appears to be yet another "knockoff" of Della Rocca's original designs, although overall, it appears to be more similar in design/style to Della Rocca's work than the Dotti variants.
Based on the samples provided in the link, would those "in the know" tend to agree with my "splitting" the
Lombardo away from the Della Rocca original, or was there information about all this in the thread already that I missed?
-- Jeannette
The Tarot Garden